It is well known that the heart muscle function of a person can be electronically monitored. It is also well known that the heart muscle function can be graphically presented in an electrocardiogram (EKG) which will indicate when there are irregularities (i.e. anomalies) in the heart function. When presented, the EKG can then be evaluated by clinical personnel to diagnose issues that may be detected, and to determine whether an appropriate clinical intervention is necessary.
Along with other scientific advances, electronic technologies have advanced to the point where continuous monitoring of a heart muscle function is feasible. In particular, it is now possible to monitor a patient's heart muscle function on a continuous, 24 hours-a-day, basis. With this extended monitoring capability, however, it has also become necessary to more accurately detect and ignore the false-positive reactions that would otherwise indicate that a clinical intervention is warranted. Stated differently, not all circumstances that may seem to adversely influence an EKG require an active response.
With the above in mind, the requirement for properly detecting a true positive which requires an active response is essentially two-fold. Firstly, there is the need to accurately identify an anomaly in the heart muscle function, when it occurs. Secondly, it is necessary to evaluate the cause of the anomaly in order to determine whether it is likely to adversely affect the patient's heart muscle function. As indicated above, a false-positive will indicate a need for clinical intervention when none is actually needed. On the other hand, a true positive may require immediate intervention.
As opposed to a chronic condition that develops over time, and which can be more thoroughly evaluated, an intermediate or short-term incident or accident may not tolerate such a delay. Typically, short-term incidents result from an egregious happenstance in a patient's normal activity that has a pronounced influence on the patient and his/her heart function. Like the heart muscle function itself, a perturbation that causes an anomaly in the heart muscle can be electronically monitored. Moreover, a heart muscle function anomaly and a causal perturbation can be monitored concurrently, and then simultaneously evaluated.
In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide systems and methods for monitoring a heart muscle function that concurrently monitors for anomalies in a heart muscle function and for aberrations in a perturbation that causes the anomaly, for an evaluation of their interaction with each other to determine whether clinical intervention is warranted. Another object of the present invention is to provide systems and methods for monitoring a heart muscle function that identify anomalies relative to a predetermined cardio-profile and detect aberrations relative to a weighted response matrix, and then simultaneously evaluate the anomalies and aberrations together to determine whether clinical intervention is warranted.